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Tom Strzalkowski believes a better path exists to mental and physical fitness that doesn't involve contact sports or grueling hours at the local gym.

It does, however, require a sword.

Strzalkowski sings the praises of fencing, the centuries-old martial art that tests the mind and the body. A five-time NCAA fencing champion and a member of the 1996 Olympic fencing team, Strzalkowski recently launched the Fencing Academy of Denver, with most of his classes in the South Jeffco area.

Five candidates are running for three open seats on the Jeffco school board in the Nov. 3 mail-in election.

Candidates compete against each other in the district they live in, but they are elected by the citizens at large across the whole school district.

All open offices are for a four year term. Robin Johnson is running unopposed in District 1. Laura Boggs is running against board president Sue Marinelli in District 2, which is Conifer and Evergreen. Appointee board member Rick Rush is running against Paula Noonan in Southwest Jeffco’s 5th District.

A five-hour standoff in a South Jeffco home ended in death Oct. 23 as a man pointing a gun at Jeffco SWAT Team members was fatally shot.

The standoff started when a woman called police to her home at 11345 W. Crestline Drive at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 22, saying her adult son was upset and had fired a gun in the house, said Jeffco sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley. Deputies could hear additional gunshots from inside the home when they arrived. Reverse 911 was used to call 175 homes in the area and request that residents stay inside their homes and away from windows.

Some county jail inmates with hot water in their past have found new hope in the cool cascade of a new calling.

Barry Fox of Falls by Fox did not offer a cold shoulder when asked to donate a water feature and help Jeffco jail inmates learn about ornamental horticulture. The result was a cool change in perspective for some inmates.

"I told 'em, 'Hell, I'll donate two,’ " said Fox, standing next to a waterfall that he, his staff and a group of Jeffco inmates built last week at the jail's rose garden.

South Jeffco voters will weigh in on term-limit extensions for county elected officials and new school board members on November's mail-in ballot.

The proposed term-limit extensions were driven primarily by District Attorney Scott Storey, who announced last spring that he'd like to seek a third term. Jeffco elected officials are allowed to serve only two consecutive terms, so Storey wants to ask voters if they will allow him and Sheriff Ted Mink to run for a third.

Officials at the Jeffco health department want the county’s anti-smoking laws to be even stricter than those enforced by the state, but at least one county commissioner thinks the suggested clampdown may go too far.

"Workers should be able to have clean air," said Dr. Mark Johnson, director of the Jeffco Department of Health and Environment, as he described the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Law. "It's a good law, but not as good as it could be. It's only moderately strong."

Times are tough in the good old USA, but Caryn and Peter Boddie of South Jeffco are hoping that area residents still can find a few spare dollars for the less fortunate in other countries.

"There are a lot of fund-raisers," Peter Boddie said. "But this is one of the only ones where you can help people in other countries and participate in something and connect to people in other countries."

Jeffco soon will offer same-sex domestic partner benefits to employees after a recommendation from the county's benefits oversight committee last week.

The proposal was one of several recommendations the employee group presented to the county commission Oct. 6. The commissioners approved the plan during a vote Oct. 13. The benefits package would include medical/vision, dental and other benefits, and be available during the county's open enrollment period starting this week. The benefits will take effect Jan. 1, 2010.

Two private investigators looking for a missing child were allowed into Shaffer Elementary School last Friday to seek information on an 8-year-old female student because the staff believed they were law enforcement officers, the district says.

Principal Gina Rivas apparently helped the investigators identify the girl, who turned out not to be involved in the matter. In addition, Rivas didn't contact the Jeffco Sheriff's Office until the private investigators insisted it be called.